The Baltimore Orioles have not been swept in a multi-game series since May 2022.
On Wednesday, the club with the American League’s best record will aim for its ninth sweep this season when the Orioles host the Chicago White Sox.
AL East-leading Baltimore defeated Chicago 9-0 and 9-3 to start the series. The latter victory, on Tuesday, was the Orioles’ 83rd this season, matching the team’s win total of a year ago.
“This has been so much fun,” Baltimore right-hander Kyle Gibson said. “The crowds have been great. The team has been a lot of fun, and we’re celebrating every single victory.
“You know, I know these guys have won at basically every level coming up, but it’s really not supposed to be that easy. These guys are playing so good and rattling off wins and putting up runs when we need it and making our job easy as a pitcher.”
Baltimore had no hits through three innings Tuesday before finishing with 14. Anthony Santander hit a go-ahead, bases-clearing double in the seventh and was one of six Orioles with two hits.
Chicago’s Lenyn Sosa had three hits, including his fourth home run since Aug. 20.
Gibson (13-7, 4.89 ERA) will look to build off a home win against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday, when he scattered three runs and six hits in eight innings with one walk and eight strikeouts.
White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease will get the call as he aims to regroup for the stretch run.
The runner-up to Justin Verlander for the AL Cy Young award last season after finishing 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA and 227 strikeouts in 184 innings, Cease has stumbled in 2023.
He enters Wednesday at 5-7 with a 4.81 ERA and is coming off one of the least effective starts of his career.
During a 12-4 home loss to the Oakland A’s on Friday, Cease allowed a career-worst nine runs and a career-high-tying eight earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. He yielded nine hits while walking five and striking out six.
“For whatever reason, I’m just not quite getting into a rhythm,” Cease said. “But at the end of the day, you’ve got to find a way to get through it and get the job done. It obviously hasn’t been my best stretch or my best work, but I’m not giving up. We’ve still got five starts left, so I’m going to get with (pitching coach) Ethan (Katz) and we’re going to work on it.”
Cease took a no-decision against the visiting Orioles on April 16, allowing four runs (two earned) and six hits in six innings. He is 2-1 with a 3.07 ERA in five career starts against Baltimore.
Gibson, a former longtime Minnesota Twin, will make his 20th career start vs. the White Sox. He is 9-5 with a 3.07 ERA against Chicago with 112 strikeouts in 123 innings. Gibson pitched 5 1/3 innings of four-run ball in an April 15 no-decision at Chicago.
The Orioles clinched the season series against the White Sox with their Tuesday victory.
–Field Level Media
